The Aftermath

My hand turned the faucet of the shower and the lukewarm water came plummeting down against my skin. I grinned, savoring the liquid as it cleaned my body. It was only about ten minutes after I had woken up next to no on. Rodney must have woken up before me to avoid the rush. I’d seriously need to have a talk with Ryant about him being so horrible to Rodney lately.

The steam stained window in the linoleum shower showed a short flash of movement.

What the hell was that?

I stepped against the slippery tile and wiped the steam away. Another sly object in the distance moved by and then another as dry Earth filled a cloud behind it. Were those people on motorcycles?

I finished up my shower, resolving to the fact I must have been seeing things. I wrapped my towel around myself and stepped out into the long hallway of showers. People were stepping in and out with their toiletries. At the showers’ doorway I stopped at hearing the sound of Alex’s voice.

“Look, I’m not interested.”

I barely poked my head around the corner to see Alex’s back pressed against a wall. A girl with sleek black hair stood closely before him in just a towel wrapped around his waist.

“All I’m saying is that we could just talk, get to know each other.”

He stared back at her coldly. “I have a girlfriend.”

The girl laughed back. “You mean that girl? She’s completely gross. I thought you’d need something a bit more… stable.”

Alex shoved her back softly. “She’s the most stable thing I have. Now move.”

The girl pouted then, walked off into the opposite direction. Alex simply stood there, staring ahead, and breathing. Then, as if his dark blue eyes sense me, they turned in my direction.

“Jasmine.”

I revealed myself from around the corner, towel still wrapped solidly around my lower arms.

“Who was that?”

The corner of his handsome lip turned up to smile at me. His black hair was still wet from the shower. The moisture clung to the crevices of his abdomen as he stood strongly.

“Just some girl who can’t seem to leave me alone.”

I stuck my hands to my hips. “Well, I hope it doesn’t become a problem or I might have to kill her. Or you.”

His head tilted to the side, a small frown coming to his lips. He stepped forward, hand reaching for the back of my neck until it’s rough texture met skin, and finally pulled my face to his. The kiss was slow and warm. I felt it spread from my toes to my head until everything went dizzy. There was just something about kissing him that made my insides fill new.

Then, his hands went to the side of my face and we just stood there, staring at each other for a while.

“I’d never do anything to mess this up. You’re what I want.”

“Good because otherwise I’ll kick your ass.”

* * * * *

The day was just as sweltering as the last as we ate our food outside. Snipers still stayed on the rooftops, but I thought it was crazy nonetheless that we were taking such a huge risk.

“I mean, look at all the ways we can get killed.” Kyle shoveled eggs into his mouth as he sat next to Cece on a log outside.

“I think this Riley Girl is crazy and did you see her bossing around those kids this morning?” Cece mused on. “How the hell do they expect to stay camped out here in the open?”

“Well, I’ve seen it done before.” Ashley came sauntering over. “Back when Ashton and I were out in the open.”

“Last time we were out in the open for a long period of time Eli got killed.”

Kyle swallowed his eggs. “Wait, who’s Eli? Hm?”

I answered. “He was a little boy that we were with when this demented family took us under their wing.”

Everyone sat on makeshift items outside. Kids sat to pint sized chairs. Adults sat on cabinets and boxes. We all sat in the burning sun and continued to eat.

“Have any of you guys seen Ryant?” I asked.

“I think I saw him back inside getting some more eggs.” Ashley answered.

I nodded and got up, my Converses crunching against the parched road until I reached the inside of the barber shop turned food station. The inside held cracked glass and overturned chairs moved to the end of the room. A busted in television sat on a counter and the floors were checkered linoleum.

There he was at the buffet style table by himself, just picking through the food on his plate. He brought the plate up to his nose and sniffed.

“This food smells weird.” He turned to me. “Actually, everything in here smells weird.”

I swallowed, breathed, and then tried to erase the stone permanent lines in my forehead.

“I slept next to Rodney last night and he cried himself to sleep because of things you said.” I shook my head. “What’s your problem?”

“Look Jasmine,” He held his plate in both hands and walked towards me with a slight grin on his face. “Rodney’s your friend and right now, you’re the only one that trusts him. I don’t have to be nice to him if he’s just dragging me along for my blood.”

“But that doesn’t mean you have to be horrible either. You have a problem.”

He stared back testily. “And… what would that problem be? Tell me.”

I tried to just stare at the boy before me and wonder what exactly was changing him, why he was doing all this.

“He doesn’t deserve this. His father’s dead. He’s just trying to fix things.” I pleaded.

“And he killed his father and he’s using us. I’m just letting him know where he stands. Excuse me.” He breezed past me and I struggled to find the words in my mind that could fix all of this, make things better.

“But you’re not a monster. You don’t treat people like this. Think of your dad.”

By softened words froze him in the doorway, plate still in one hand. His head cocked to the side and words slipped from his lips. “I don’t know if you’ve noticed lately, but my dad isn’t in the best of conditions right now.”

“That doesn’t mean you get to do this though, you know that, right?”.

“I-“

Damien came sauntering up the barber shop’s steps and smiled. “Hey guys, Riley’s calling a meeting. It’s mandatory, so… Um did I interrupt something?”

Ryant’s eyes turned back to me slowly and he gave an apologetic shrug before walking past Damien. I nearly wanted to cry, at least my best friend wasn’t completely lost yet.

Damien clapped his hands together. “Sorry. Did I interrupt a private moment?”

I exhaled, shaking my head which seemed to already be spinning.

“Ugh, no. Let’s go.”

I followed Damien outside, scratching my head as we saw Riley standing to the center of everyone sitting to the roadway’s middle. Damien and I ended up taking seats next to each other while Ryant sat off somewhere by himself.

“Alright! I’m sure all of you guys are aware that we have some visitors with us and-“

“What about the food?! How long is that gonna last with these new freeloaders?!”

I rolled my eyes and Damien next to me covered his lips so the chuckles wouldn’t escape.

“Now hold on! These people are not freeloaders! They will be doing their fair share of the work that we have around here!” Riley shouted back.

“Wait, what work?” Cece cut back, looking between Kyle and Riley. “No one ever said anything about any work. “

“Well, when you came into our pack, you basically agreed to work. Is that so hard to believe?”

Riley’s tone was more than testy and I saw Kyle holding on Cece’s arm steadily to keep her from getting up.

“We never agreed to stay here. You tried to kill us. We didn’t back down and then, we decided to stay here. We’re leaving very soon.”

“And just where the hell are you guys going, huh?” She argued back. “To get yourselves killed?”

“We’re going to Washington D.C.” A voice replied back and everyone turned. It was a surprise to see Rodney just standing there as business like as ever.

Riley seemed just as mystified as everyone. “Why?”

Rodney smiled, chuckling. “You think we’d seriously tell you? You guys don’t even have the needed supplies to last two weeks and you’re asking us questions?”

“Well, prepared or not, we’re safe and that’s all that matters.”

“Riley! Riley! They’re- They’re out there! I saw them!” A boy in all white clothing a sniper rifle came running over. People in the group began to scream and jostle, becoming frantic.

“David, calm down and talk.” Riley stepped down from the table she stood and waited for the boy to stop choking on his own breath.

“I-I- saw them out there and they were-“

“You mean the zombies? The infected people?” Ryant came closer to the growing circle and spoke.

David turned to him, choking on his own words. “Ugh, no. I-It was those people. They-“

“Be quiet.” Riley forced. “We’re going to talk about this in private. Damien come on.”

“See you guys later.” Damien walked off from my side and went to follow Riley along with David out of earshot. They eventually walked into a rickety storefront next to a dusty alleyway.

“I want to know what the hell they’re hiding.” Alex grumbled from behind me.

Alex, Kyle, Ashley, Cece, Ryant, and I all glared over to the storefront with shattered glass and flaking wood.

“I’m going to find out.” I stomped my way ahead of the at rest crowd. None of them seemed even the least bit inclined to go out of their way to know what was going on. If those zombies were going to be attacking this town, I wanted the heads up.

Alex, Cece, Ashley, and Kyle’s footsteps followed behind me. Rodney must have been off already discussing plans to his scientist and guards. I crouched a bit the deeper into the alleyway he got. A deep breeze hit the air and licked away the sweat from my scalp. The storefront’s side window rested above our heads.

“What do you mean they got past the perimeter? I assigned you all in shifts to keep a twenty four hour watch.” Riley hissed.

“It’s not that easy. At night, there’s no visibility and we can’t use those industrial lights since they’ll know where we are.”

“I knew it was a bad idea to tell everyone they stayed out there.” Damien threw in.

“But, we have to do it. I thought you were in with me on this, Damien? We said that it was best way to keep people under control for now until we found a better plan.”

“But, I don’t think lying to them is working either. Have you seen that new girl and her friends? They’re already on their toes and if they find any chance that we’re lying, they’ll leave.”

“We don’t need them here.” She spat back.

“You might not want to admit it, but we do. We need some more fighters. You let them leave and I can guarantee when a fight comes, eighty percent of us won’t stand a chance.”

The room inside got silent and someone sighed.

“Look Riley, I know since Christie died, you don’t want to take any chances. You and her were a tight unit. With Gabe left behind, you have to look at everything possible that can happen. Denying that we’re in danger won’t change the fact that we are.”

I looked to Alex at my right and we shared a common look. Who was Christie and Gabe?

“Just hear me out when I say that we should consider telling everyone the truth, especially Jasmine and her friends since they’re the ones that we need right more than anything else.”

“We’re not telling them anything and if you can’t get that through your head, then we’re going to have problems. I’m in charge, not you.”

Someone walked along the weak wooden floorboards and slammed a back door to the storefront. It was probably Riley walking away angrily, so many thoughts on her mind.

“We need to talk to Lion.” Alex said.

Then, he took my hand and we all walked off to follow.